# Inglourious Basterds



## Butterfree (Aug 28, 2009)

See it. It is both absolutely hilarious, a gripping story, and generally awesome.

If you have managed not to have heard of it, it's Quentin Tarantino's newest film and is about some plots to assassinate Hitler and other Nazi leaders during World War II. A whole lot more fun than it sounds, even if you do think that sounds fun. Quite bloody, though, as expected from Tarantino.

If you have seen it, discuss. :D

Fun fact: a film critic for an Icelandic newspaper managed to make a typo and thus call Quentin Tarantino a "filmmaker-maggot" while reviewing this. I was very amused.


----------



## H-land (Aug 28, 2009)

I can't help but imagine the Soldier from Team Fortress 2 whenever I hear the word "maggot" now. The best thing about that, though, is how plausible the Soldier calling a guy who made a film set in the World War II era a maggot really would be. (Not withstanding that he calls _everyone_ maggots or similar.)

In any case, I haven't seen this yet.
I went and saw District 9 the other day, instead. :x
I guess I'll keep it in mind.


----------



## opaltiger (Aug 29, 2009)

Unfortunately I cannot take this film seriously in any way because of the title. I mean, really? _Really?_

Also is it only me or could we swap Tarantino for a more vanilla director, Brad Pitt for Tom Cruise, fiction for history, and have Valkyrie? Which is not a good thing to have. Are you quite certain I want to see this?


----------



## Butterfree (Aug 29, 2009)

Yes. Yes, I am.

And no, it is absolutely nothing at all like Valkyrie. First, I am not exaggerating when I say that it's _hilarious_. Second, Brad Pitt is not the most prominent character in the movie (billing always lies) and the character he plays is the leader of a squad of sociopathic soldiers who just enjoy going around killing and scalping Nazis and are some of the least sympathetic characters in the film (if extremely amusing), and that's including all the Nazis save for Hitler himself, Göbbels and the fictional Hans Landa. The one I would call the actual main character is a young French Jewish woman who owns a movie theater, though it has a lot of principal characters. Third, the assassination plots are a lot more interesting (and epic). Fourth, all the characters are played by actors from the character's country and speak their real native language with subtitles instead of everything being rendered into English for the sake of the viewers. Fifth, it is just one hell of a lot more fun to watch from beginning to end. Sixth, they actually pull it off. Absolutely the only thing they have in common is both involving plots to assassinate Hitler.


----------



## opaltiger (Aug 29, 2009)

Hence why I began with "Tarantino for a more vanilla director". But okay, I will trust you.


----------



## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Aug 30, 2009)

Saw it, it was okay I guess, but I'm too much of a complete history nerd to appreciate a film where they kill Hitler. I mean, up till then, it was alright, kind of believable and generally enjoyable, but everything from the moment Emmanuelle/Soshana's film starts playing in the cinema is just retarded and I couldn't see the point. It's just like Tarantino went 'you know what I don't like Nazis I'll make a film where they kill Hitler and his administration. I am a good film-maker. Also Speer? Himmler? Hess? Who that.'

It's just so... American, I suppose. It had its funny moments but overall I wouldn't have payed to see it had I known the general content.
But I'm picky and bitchy, carry on :v


----------



## Lady Grimdour (Aug 30, 2009)

Bloody awesome.

All I can say.


----------



## Dewgong (Sep 3, 2009)

wanna see it

have been wanting to see it since before it was playing

nsodufhsdf


----------



## opaltiger (Sep 5, 2009)

> It's just so... American, I suppose.


I disagree. It is about as not American as they come.

Fine, Butterfree. Fine. I admit. >:( It was fucking awesome.

Although I imagine the casting director had headaches. "Must speak German, English, French, and Italian; must be able to act well".


----------



## Butterfree (Sep 5, 2009)

See? See? :D

I read somewhere that when they were trying to cast Landa, Tarantino was pretty much going, "Okay, if we don't find the perfect guy, we're just publishing the script and forgetting about it." And the producers responded by dedicating the next few weeks exclusively to casting him. Then Christoph Waltz appeared and the movie was saved.

(A good thing, too, because reading Tarantino's scripts makes it hard to get past the fact that the poor guy couldn't spell to save his life. I have a serious theory that the title originated as an honest _attempt_ to write "inglorious bastards" which was then kept that way for amusement. It would explain his reluctance to talk about the reasons for that artistic touch.)


----------



## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Sep 5, 2009)

opaltiger said:


> I disagree. It is about as not American as they come.


GONNA KILL US SOME NITZIES BLOOD AND VIOLENCE EVERYWHERE FUCK YEAH AMERICA WHOOOOOHOOOO
I mean I don't think I'm particularly stupid but I didn't see anything about this film worth talking about. Done to death, only I guy I liked was the Nazi guy who gets the swastika carved in at the end, acting was good. Story blows.

I'm not being sarcastic or 'heh, mainstream sheep' about this, I genuinely don't get why this is a good film, plot-wise. Can someone please tell me :c


----------



## opaltiger (Sep 6, 2009)

> GONNA KILL US SOME NITZIES BLOOD AND VIOLENCE EVERYWHERE FUCK YEAH AMERICA WHOOOOOHOOOO


... no shit? the whole point was to make the "good guys" amoral fuckers. and that is not very American.



> I'm not being sarcastic or 'heh, mainstream sheep' about this, I genuinely don't get why this is a good film, plot-wise. Can someone please tell me :c


The plot itself is nothing amazing (although I think it works just fine; better than most assassination attempts, which are far more boring). The film is made, I think, by the way it's shot and by the acting.


----------



## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Sep 6, 2009)

opaltiger said:


> ... no shit? the whole point was to make the "good guys" amoral fuckers. and that is not very American.


Honestly couldn't tell the difference because that's how Americans act in most films and we're supposed to root for them.


----------



## goldenquagsire (Sep 6, 2009)

> Honestly couldn't tell the difference because that's how Americans act in most films and we're supposed to root for them.


I dunno. The bit where they kill a guy who's just had his first kid is a step further than most films playing the imperialistic American characters seriously take.

What I'd say was the best part of the plot was the way that they set up the relationship between Dreyfus and Zoller, making you think that it's going to be a cookie-cutter "good girl meets bad guy who's soft at heart, get together" Hollywood romance, but then show that Zoller is ultimately a dickwad and that Dreyfus never wants him anyway.

The tension at various points in the film was intense; I was practically biting my nails off at the scene in the dairy farm and the restaurant. It was interesting that they managed to contrast said tension with genuinely funny scenes.


----------



## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Sep 6, 2009)

goldenquagsire said:


> I dunno. The bit where they kill a guy who's just had his first kid is a step further than most films playing the imperialistic American characters seriously take.


That was the German lady, not an American.


----------



## goldenquagsire (Sep 6, 2009)

Vladimir Putin's LJ said:


> That was the German lady, not an American.


Doh.

I dunno. I still think that violent, imperialistic American movie characters are still generally intended to be portrayed as good guys, even if the result is that that they end up seeming like douches. The Basterds are intentionally portrayed as fairly immoral, brainless shitbags - awesome shitbags, but still shitbags.


----------



## King Clam (Sep 10, 2009)

I've said it before and I'll say it again. this movie is the most fun I've had watching Nazis die since Wolfenstein 3-D.

Plus a bunch of bloody violence and really well-written dialogue are the only things that Tarantino knows how to do and if you expected anything else then you're bad at cinema.


----------

